October 9, 2007

Okay, I am victorious: the cold has been defeated. Vanquished! So I’m back in action. Lock and load. This Wednesday is my kind of hump day: I’m happy to be attending the Food & Wine American Wine Awards, where I will be accepting my award for “Most Improved Wino.” (Kidding.) If you’re looking for some cocktail-related shindigs (which tend to spark subsequent shenanigans), I have another drinkie event listed for you in the socialite, wait, actually, a few. Plus a boozy dinner review in the regular. And some books too. Hence this week’s title.

Oh, and Sunday evening is the upcoming Meatpaper issue one meat and greet party at Slow Club—don’t miss this one, dollinks. There will be all kinds of meatses partses and drinks and tunes and your chance to pick up your very own copy of issue one—it’s spiffy! Like hot coppa.

Meowza, it’s not every Saturday when you find yourself mentioned in the front-page story of the Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Journal. The article’s topic of new media writers and contributors accepting free meals has started a flurry of discussion on various food boards—I thought the Accidental Hedonist's post brought up some interesting points, and the SF Weeklychimed in too. Funny, I was still lumped in as a blogger after explaining to the WSJ writer that tablehopper was an e-column and not a blog, but I guess that ultimately wasn’t convenient to her story angle. Don’t let her confuse you—you know what’s what.

It bears repeating that my policy about accepting free meals is clearly outlined on my site. Until I score some investors (hello out there?), this is how I presently can afford to check out so many places—I’m no trustafarian. Oh, and newsflash: new media outlets aren’t the only one accepting comps and attending press dinners—numerous magazines and newspapers have been accepting them for years. I’m just sayingâ¦ Ahem.

Bottom line: tablehopper is about covering what I think is good around town. If I go somewhere and it’s ultimately not a place I’d recommend, then you won’t see it reviewed here. It’s called integrity. And when a place isn’t up to snuff, I have made a personal choice to not throw tomatoes or hammer nails in the coffin—it’s not my style, and I’d rather dedicate my pixels to what’s good. As many mothers have said, “If you don’t have anything nice to sayâ¦”

Grazie to all for the enthusiastic emails the past few days—I appreciate the support more than you will ever know. I’m fired up, so let’s do another giveaway! I have a pair of tickets to WhiskyFest to give away, the boozy event coming to SF on October 23 (read all about it in the socialite). All you need to do is forward the tablehopper newsletter to five friends, and just cc luckyme [at] tablehopper [dot] com. (I won’t use anyone’s emails for anything—this is just to track how many folks you forwarded it to!). Deadline to enter is midnight on Sunday, October 14. I’ll notify the winner early next week!